2008 in video games
Results, surprises and story lines from 2008. Questions for 2008 *How will video games in 2008 fare compared to 2007's record breaking year? *What effect will Blu-Ray's success have on the PS3? *How much longer will the Wii suffer from shortages? *Can gamers expect a price cut for PS2, PS3, 360 this year? *Will third-parties embrace the Wii after its unexpected success? *Will the Wii lose momentum in 2008? *Will Grand Theft Auto 4, Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet or Metal Gear Solid 4 spark PS3 sales? *Will the Xbox 360 release a Blu-Ray add-on? Happenings January to June 2008 *PSP is the Japan's top seller and outsells DS 2:1 consistently during first half of 2008. Monster Hunter sells millions. *Last generation's PS2 outsells PS3 and Xbox 360 in NPD February 2008 and outsells 360 in NPD January 2008 possibly caused by $99 PS2 weekly sale from Target. *The Blu-ray becomes the format of choice over HD-DVD. Sony PS3 sales do not significantly improve. *Xbox 360 suffers from surprising shortages in January, February, and March according to Microsoft. *GTA IV sells 3,6 million copies day one, 6 million on the PS3/360 worldwide in first week and 8,5 million copies by the end of May. However, no visible hardware bump is seen. *In March, Wii surpasses Microsoft's Xbox 360 with lifetime sales of 813,000 units.http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2459/206 *Wii Fit becomes a major success in Japan with over 2 million units sold and with solid sales in the UK and the United States. *PS3 and Xbox 360 sales are neck and neck with only a difference of 60K from January to May. *Three of the top five games in NPD May 2008 include an accessory. *Limbo of the Lost, a point and click PC adventure game steals level designs and artwork from several games (Oblivion, Diablo, others) http://www.gameplasma.com/limbo_of_the_lost_or_oblivion/ *Metal Gear Solid 4 ships 3 million units in 2 weeks and lists the PS3 to 75,311 weekly sales in Japan.http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11030&Itemid=2 July to December 2008 *Capcom surprises everyone by announcing the long-awaited sequel Mega-Man 9 for WiiWare, XBLA, PlayStation Store and the game being in 8-bit. Fan reaction is mostly positive. *Nintendo owns the top 10 slots during UK week 30 sales, according to Chart-Track. 7 Wii, 3 DS, 9 exclusives. http://www.charttrack.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p/software/uk/latest/index_test.jsp&ct=110032 *In mid-August, the release of Tales of Vesperia propels 360 sales in Japan to 24,962 units, according to Media Create sales data. The following week, Microsoft announces widespread system shortages in Japan.http://www.edge-online.com/news/japan-xbox-360-outsells-ps3-25-1 *In August, NPD, Enterbrain, GfK form a global alliance and set to release a monthly reports from North America, Japan, and United Kingdom.http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19949 *Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training passes Tomb Raider in the UK for the most weeks (80) in the All-Formats top ten.http://www.charttrack.co.uk/?i=580&s=1111 *''Star Wars: Force Unleashed'' for XBLA is downloaded one million times in eight days, a new record.http://www.edge-online.com/news/force-strong-xbox-live-marketplace *September: According to Enterbrain (Famitsu), Xbox 360 outsold both PlayStation 3 and Wii, though Media Create's figures show it was just shy of Wii's total. MC's numbers says it sold 28,188 for the week ending Sept 14. This increase was due to Infinite Undiscovery, a price cut, and renewed stock.http://www.edge-online.com/news/media-create-360-didnt-outsell-wii-japan This increase in sales continued through October. *PS3 reaches its lowest point in Japan, selling only 4100 units in the 3rd week of October. *PSP-3000 was launched worldwide in October and the Nintendo DSi was launched on November 1 in Japan. *In November, Microsoft releases a new version of Xbox 360's motherboard, named Jasper, that seeks to remedy Red Ring of Death hardware problems. *The Xbox 360 sees its biggest European sales month in November.http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21361 *There were 306 games released for Wii in 2008, compared to 264 for X360, 201 for PS3http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/15/wii-top-games-tech-personal-cx_mji_1215wiigames.html *Nintendo increases supply and sells over 2 million consoles in the U.S. for November NPD. Two million sellers for the Xbox 360. Delays Games that were delayed to 2009 *Final Fantasy XIII *KillZone 2 *Resident Evil 5 *Halo Wars *Monster Hunter 3 *Alan Wake *Prototype *Borderlands *FEAR: Project Origin *Dragon Quest IX Sales milestones *Microsoft sells 10 million Xbox 360s in the United States, the first to do so. (May) *Nintendo sells 10 million Wii systems in the U.S. (June) *100 million NDS games sold.http://ds.ign.com/articles/867/867314p1.html *The Sims reaches 100 million units sold, including expansions and spinoffs. *Gran Turismo series reaches 50 million units shipped. *Wii reaches one million in Canada.Wii surpasses mark of one million consoles sold in Canada *Microsoft's Xbox 360 reaches 6 million in Europe.http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbox-360-hits-six-million-sales-in-europe *Xbox 360 breaks 25 million mark worldwide.http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbox-360-to-break-25-million-barrier-soon *Xbox 360 sells 10.3 million units worldwide in 2008.http://www.edge-online.com/news/ms-360-life-date-sales-hit-28m Notable releases ;Hardware *DSi (Japan only) *PSP-3000 *Xbox 360 revision (Jasper) ;Software *Grand Theft Auto IV *Metal Gear Solid 4 *Wii Fit Major announcements *Final Fantasy XIII to be cross-platform (on Xbox 360 and PS3) *Diablo III *Dragon Quest X announced for Wii http://www.edge-online.com/news/wii-gets-dragon-quest-x See also *'NPD 2008 in review' *2007 in video games *Seventh generation of video games References External links ;Games *wikipedia:2008 in video gaming *Japan Game Industry - Look back at first half of 2008 (1up) *Next-gen.biz - The Games of 2008: Xbox 360 | Wii | PS3 | PC gaming | Nintendo DS | PSP *IGN: Nintendo Wii Year in Review | PC | X360 | PS3 *Edge online: PC in review | Xbox 360 | Nintendo *20 Defining Moments of 2008 *Big news of 2008 *PC: Most played games of 2008 *Gamasutra: 2008 in review Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ;Sales *EA expects PS3 to outsell 360 in 2008 *Wii dominates UK hardware sales (12 months covering October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008) *Enterbrain Famitsu: Fiscal Year 2008 First half sales of Japan (March 31 to September 28, 2008) *Gamasutra: Japanese Games Market Shrinks 15.3 Percent In 2008 Category:Video game sales